Take That Amiga! Or Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Many moons ago, I came across something on an Amiga website that could only make a petty, immature Apple IIGS user like me and about 10 other people on the planet smirk.
You see, ‘The Official Amiga Software Catalogue', a printed publication ‘describing over 300 of the best Amiga software, hardware and accessories titles' actually reveals more about IIGS software on its cover than the Amiga - If you look closely, the iconic Amiga software Deluxe Paint II, apparently running on an Amiga 1000, graces its cover. If you look even more closely however, you'll see that it's actually the Apple IIGS version of Deluxe Paint II - the pull down menu style and use of the Shaston font, make that a stark contrast to the GUI look and feel of the Amiga.
If you need any further confirmation that it's the IIGS version, look no further than the InCider magazine issue of October 1986 - the one with Woz introducing the IIGS...which includes exactly the same screen shot of Deluxe Paint II.
This petty, immature IIGS user has enjoyed this pointless cheap shot at the Amiga. It's all in good fun of course - I have much respect for the Amiga as a platform. Let's be honest, its cost, 16-bit software library and abilities with not only displaying graphics but pushing them around screen effortlessly leaves a lot to be desired on the IIGS. Of course what the IIGS has going for it is better sound capabilities, an arguably better standard user interface and a bevy of legacy software from its 8-bit forebears.
When I ever get enough space (ideally a man-cave) I'd like own some form of classic Amiga and hopefully some solid state method of playing around with its software library. Until then however, I'm making do by going back to one of my old pointless hobbies and converting graphics in the best way possible on the IIGS.
The Amiga can display graphics with 32 colours from a palette of 4096 at resolution of 320 x 200 (and other resolutions as well). The IIGS can display 16 colours PER SCAN LINE from a palette of 4096 at 320 x 200 pixels. But just how well can using different palettes across different scan lines help convert 32 colour art to the IIGS?
I thought I'd start with artwork from Jim Sachs, the artist who really made the Amiga and 4-bit graphics shine thanks to his art, including his work on Defender of the Crown. The Amiga Graphics Archive does a wonderful job showcasing Amiga graphics and their artists and I've used that as the source for obtaining classic Amiga art for conversion on the IIGS with Super Convert 4, Prism and Convert 3200.
I tried using just the 16 colour palettes evenly distributed down the SHR screen (for a maximum potential of 256 colours, bearing in mind that you're limited to 16 colours per palette) but it just didn't cut the mustard. So, 3200 colour mode it was. It's a little overkill to try to maintain the original 32 colour artwork, but it's worked almost flawlessly across all the images I converted and Jim Sachs artwork displays perfectly (in most cases).
Fortunately, unlike a lot of the Pixel Joint artwork I converted, each of the images I've included in this collection are all 320x200 (and no taller, requiring scrolling to see the rest of the image), so 3200 colour mode works well in this regard. Rather than use the otherwise excellent SHR View by Ron Mercer, it's best to view these Amiga images from Dream Voir, DreamWorld's slide show viewer, as it includes fade to black transitions for 3200 mode graphics (which no other slide viewer on the IIGS offers) as well as Sound Smith music accompaniment (if you feel that way inclined for background music). The fade transitions make it look like the IIGS is displaying the images with ease, but in reality, it's quietly breaking a sweat in the background, as it requires many additional cycles to keep all 200 palettes doing their thing across the image.
To enjoy these new Amiga graphics on the IIGS, download the updated the Graphics & Animation 32 meg volume:
Graphics & Animation (A collection of classic and new graphics slideshows and animation ~18.6meg)
Once mounted in System 6 or System 5.0.4, open the ‘Gfx.Viewers' folder at the top of the volume's window, and then ‘DVoir' and launch the ‘DreamVoir' application. It should be configured to run the slideshow of Amiga graphics already, if not go to 'File' > 'Get Picture Directory...' and select the 'Amiga' folder.
Jim Sachs artwork is joined by other notable artists Rick Parks, Herman Serrano, Henk VanDer Graaf, Garvan Corbett, Avril Harrison and others. Some images in the end didn't require the full 3200 conversion (in particular, the Barbarian intro graphics look great in 256 colour modes). Note that 3200 colour graphics will not display properly in the emulator Sweet 16, and your mileage may vary for KEGS/GSPort/ActiveGS as well. Real IIGS hardware is best to enjoy these graphics.
A last comment: it surprised me to learn that the premiere screen saver for the IIGS, Twilight II, doesn't include a module for displaying a slideshow of images to prevent screen burn-in, although there is a module that will play Paintworks animations. Anyone up for the challange of creating a Twilight II module to enable a slide show as a screen saver? If you take a peek inside the Graphics & Animation 32meg volume and look inside 'Twilight.Mods', there's a file in there called 'tii.G2MF.jun14' which is an AppleWorks GS text document that outlines the specifics of the module format. Could this perhaps be coupled with the code DreamWorld very effeciently wrote for handling the opening and display of multiple graphic formats, which Brutal Deluxe used in their PicViewer Finder Extension?